Hi all,

Just want to say in advance that I realise I made a series of incredibly dumb errors. Nonetheless, here’s a timeline of events and some of the questions I’m looking for help on. I’m pre-guessing that there isn’t much I can do, but thought I’d check nonethless (and if anyone could help me work out how to move my situation forward, that would be great because I’m in a right pickle and not sure where to start).

What happened?

1) Whilst on holiday, my car was taken by council as road tax expired and was parked on street outside home. I had not received renewal notification letter as I forgot to change my address. I have now updated this and my car tax is paid.

2) When I went to pick up the car it was badly damaged, with no proof of whether damage was done before or after removal.

3) The staff at the impound said they would try to find photos, and then within 2 weeks come back or they would pay for repairs. They emailed me to say that this would 'around 14 days to investigate but could be longer’, however I received no formal documents about this situation.

4) 3 weeks later, they have come back to me with photos of the car damaged outside of my house. They are stating that the damage existed prior to them removing the vehicle, however the only photo showing damage already shows a "untaxed vehicle" notice under the wiper directly above damage - i.e. there is no image of the car before they touched it.


My questions

1. Is my insurance likely to cover me if my car was damaged whilst untaxed? I am fully comp with Admiral.
2. Do clamping/ towing companies need to prove that they were not the source of the damage or do I need to prove that they were?
3. How f’d am I from my insurance POV? I want to sell this car so basically need to repair it asap (and then don’t need a car, luckily, so can cancel my insurance). However, it’s not in a drivable condition at the moment and so I would need someone to take it to the garage for repairs prior to sale. I have RAC breakdown cover – would it be advisable to ask the RAC to take it to a garage or would that make the insurance situation worse if they want me to only use Admiral approved garages for repairs?

Thanks all!

I would have thought so, but you need to look at the actual schedule. Don't forget there will be an excess payable, and also an insurance assessor will examine the car to see what the repairs will cost, and then a decision will be made to either repair or write-off the car.


They would need to prove they weren't if you got to a court of law claiming they had damaged your car. However, you would have to back-up your claim with some proof of damage, obviously. The court, (which would be a civil court), would decide on the civil law test also used by the adjudicators, namely "the balance of probabilities"


If you make an insurance claim that is accepted, the insurance company will decide where to have the car repaired and will arrange for it to be recovered to the repair location. I don;t think the RAC will accept your situation as a breakdown.
If the insurance company write-off the car, you will receive a cash sum representing the market value of the car. A market value based on it being a non-runner.